In my latest YouTube video, I fawned all over Cowon’s Plenue D2 and I’m miffed. Miffed that, loaded or unloaded, the 2400$ SPM1000M shows a sizeable step back from Cowon’s little engine. And, in several categories (mainly loaded), the SPM1000M is worse than its older, bleeding-edge, sibling, the AK380. Sure, we’re splitting hairs- atoms even. Dynamic range differences between 110dB and 120, let alone 117dB and 121dB, are minuscule on a test bench, and positively homeopathic at the ear. And if you’re listening to music louder than 100dB, you’ll not be listening to anything for long. I doubt anyone even listens to sensitive earphones at iPhone maximum volumes. But if you do, note that matched to that output level, the SPM1000M certainly tests better than an iPhone SE, but apart from stereo crosstalk, not by leaps and bounds. And it hisses more.

For three years I have both recommended and castigated Cowon’s original Plenue D. It has great battery life. It is small. It is robust. It plays loads of files. But its interface, abstruse from day one, got worse. And, through sensitive earphones, it hissed a lot more than most of the competition; in fact, it hissed more than some late-model Minidisk players and recorders. It held signal well under load, but lost quite a bit of stereo separation under loads both meagre and highly resistive. My mate, Ryuzoh, offered to mod mine. I can’t tell if it sounds better, and neither can he, but my unit is super unique. And it’s one I’ve kept because the plusses I mentioned above really bowled me over.

It’s fair to not expect much from such a comparatively diminutive DAP. And, while the M6 has a decent EQ and filter modes, it doesn’t test as well as an iPhone. It gets a bit louder, and hisses a bit more than an iPhone SE. But it also drives earphones and headphones better at normal to loud listening levels, shows little load stress, and keeps a charge for at least 12 hours. It’s a good player with some cool features, especially in the wireless realm.

Sane-ish price, beautiful industrial design, good performance, and an interface that embarrasses most of the competition, the ZX300 is a phenomenal DAP. Like the Sony NW-WM1Z it hisses, but not horribly. And, it doesn't break the 16-bit ceiling in any meaningful way. But it nails DSD decode and playback, runs smoothly through albums/songs/artists, and with an artful UI to boot. I love this thing.

The Plenue J makes about as little line and hiss noise as the Plenue D. It sounds great, holds signal well across most metrics, and is easy to use. It is more responsive than the Plenue D, slimmer, and has a slightly better screen.

I love the AK70 MKII’s new volume pot. I dig its new lines. I even dig the new colour accents. However, I’m not ecstatic about its measured performance, especially when compared back to back with that of its predecessor. I can confirm that the AK70 gets similarly loud, that its boot up screen is smooth, and that, like its predecessor, its signal is cleanest at a setting of 136, where stereo crosstalk, which tops out around -87 at max volume, breaks -100dB. Of course, the MKI measures -118dB without load, and -75dB connected to an Earsonics SM2. As far as I can tell, that is the only improvement the MKII brings.

Outside it's gold, inside it's a mix. On high gain, the NW-WM1Z's single-ended out measures better than an iPod nano 7G, but not by much. And, it doesn't appear to get much louder than an iPhone 6. On high gain and in balanced mode, it owns the nano, sounding crisper and clearer. Either out is the sort of sound that goes really well with JVC's HA-FW02 and Astell & Kern's AKT8iE MKII and less well with mid-bright earphones like the Grado GR8/e and Beyerdynamic Xelento.

I love how Megamini sounds. I love its warm, bursting midrange. I love its texture and stereo detail. Its instrument positioning is excellent. At the best of times, it harks back to Fiio’s original X3- a player whose hellish UI left dents in my walls, but whose pleasing sound was then and still is a bookmark in what I consider perfect warmth. Unfortunately, Megamini hisses way more than the X3 ever did, and more in fact, than any player I’ve tested in about two years. In fact, its hiss is on par with an iPod video from 2005.

This thing sounds good. Real good. It really fits in a front pocket. I has a real hold switch. And a damn fine balanced output. That it costs just ~350$ in Japan and another Benjamin abroad is shocking.

I consider myself something of a skeptic. Not a real skeptic. I let narratives carry me away far too often, and question things I’m down with far too seldom. But I try to make it a point to distain the belief in listening and believing. For audio stuff: that test has to be hardware, standardised, volume-matched, and snarky.

Marketing copy worthy of blooper reels is one of Astell&Kern’s fortes. And, Music Friend In My Pocket, AK70, is the cringingly, suggestively ugly even by AK standards. Bravo. Despite, this, the AK70 itself is handsome. Sure, its Korean edges will draw blood. But it is shorter than an iPhone 5 and not much larger than an original AK120. Get a case for it. It will fit in your pocket.

If you read the summary (to be published soon), you will note that I’m not a fan of using Valoq. Valoq is kludgy. It is ugly. It screws the gapless pooch and pops way too much when the mains are switched on or off. Finally it’s got an annoying grounding problem.

Even tacked down, my still-shiny Plenue D slid off my photography table, hit the tripid, hit the c-stand, hit the floor. Thank the gods the screen didn’t shatter. The series of accidents gave me and excuse to pinch and prod, the summary of which is this: Plenue D isn't as solidly built as the original AK100. It is nicely machined though, and attacks its user with fewer Korean corners. More so than the Astell&Kern, plates in its face and ass flex under mild thumb-and-finger pressure. Cowon prettied up little D by adding glitter to its polished flanks before sliding it in a brushed back capping it in a fully polished cap. Basically, they covered portable audio design trope but the serrated logo.

This iPod nano guy flipped out when he saw Fiio's first Facebook advert for the M3. It is my strong opinion that portable players should come in all sizes. Shirking high-quality, comfortably pocketable players for kludgy touch UIs, massive screens, and evaporating battery life is poor form. My readers know my better than I do.

It looks like a Jeep designed by a man worried about his manhood. It performs like an Onkyo DP-X1. It’s got enough 00’s in its name to qualify it for an MI6 franchise of its own. And no way is it sexy enough that the handsomely epilated people on its marketing page would touch it for less than a model's wage. Strangely though, despite all its 00’s and other other idiotic geekified nomenclature, I find it easier to type XDP-100R than DP-X1. What gives?

After dinking around with poor interfaces (Onkyo DP-X1, Pioneer), massive players (Astell&Kern AK380), and exploring the gory world of staunching bandages (Astell&Kern AK Jr, Astell&Kern AK380), I was so happy to fit the ZX2 in my palm. Its interface is clearly organised. It is generally responsive. Its body doesn’t draw blood. It’s a Sony. Whatever else it means, at minimum the name suggests a decent focus on human-oriented design. Indeed, both the ZX2's hardware and software UIs are revelations among all high-end players.

Why didn't I listen to it? Simple: I don't care. The DP-X1 is too big, too awkward, and too slaved to an unfathomly music-unfriendly and ugly interface that I would never consider owning it. It feels bad in the hand, and whose interface relies more on glitz than it does on gravitas. Getting music to register to it was even more difficult than for the Astell&Kern AK380 (RMAA'd here - reviewed here), primarily because it is new and its firmware doesn't do ID3 tags well.

Consider this article a happy follow-up to the 'dud' MS-AK100 RMAA results I just posted. The results below describe the unit I originally reviewed at Headfonia. They describe a DAP which largely outperforms the AK240, and which, in many metrics, stays toe-to-toe with the 3500$ USD AK380.

Prior to releasing an official apology, it is meet to be up front about the performance of my AK100 which Mezzo Hifi modded. Next to the one I reviewed at Headfonia, and the one I previewed here at ohm, it is piss-poor. At my request Mezzo agreed to look again at the same unit. If it was out of spec, they would fix it. The results speak for themselves.

My publish order is totally off. Yesterday, Headfonia published my review of the Astell&Kern AK380. The AK380 is a sometimes-awesome, sometime-awful DAP, chock full of hardware potential which is wrecked only by its painfully angular design, poor marketing copy, and comparatively poor lazy amp design.